#acitizenoftheavatarstate

[theotherace]

hello! just popping in to say i really love and enjoy your writing and art! you have such a fantastic grasp of the characters and their motivations and personalities and it's just perfection! ive been meaning to write fic for taang as well, any advice or tips on how to write them or their relationship? ps. thank you for creating such gorgeous fan works for this adorable ship. they deserve all the love.

Hiya!

I’m very happy to hear you like the things I do, and how I do them, so to speak. Honestly, I always worry about writing them OOC, so hearing somebody say they think I got them right is a big relief. 

As to advice on how to write them ... Well, that’s a bit tricky, because I usually just go with the flow. I’ll try my best, though.

Alright. 

I had written half a page already only analyzing Aang’s character, hadn’t even started with Toph or their relationship yet, but I think this will be more helpful if I try to keep it concise. (The keyword here being “try”, haha.) 

One thing that really helps me when I write literally any character is to find a way in which I can relate to them. I don’t know if that is the best or most effective way to write and create characters, but it is what I’ve been doing since I was twelve, and it has worked well enough for me. 

Example: Aang has trouble facing his problems and working through them. So do I. Toph knows how frustrating it is to not be taken seriously/feel heard. So do I. 

That’s my in. 

Next, these are of course not my characters, so I do not decide what is true about them and what isn’t. I have to understand certain fundamental truths about them, otherwise, I’m unable to accurately portray them. I need to understand their core. (And I hope I have.) 

For Aang, some of these by me so perceived truths would be: He is the last of his people; this will come with a great deal of grief, anger, and loneliness. Therefore, he is very familiar with those (negative) emotions. He chooses not to dwell on them, which tells us a lot about him as well. If he can, he avoids conflict. The things he has left of his people (Appa, the Temples, his staff, his beliefs), he values very, very highly, and he will go to great lengths to preserve them. 

For Toph, some are: She does not like being coddled, as she has been for most of her life. She is capable and resourceful, but also very stubborn. Throughout the show, she learns not only to accept the help of her friends but also to ask for it if need be. She is still fiercely independent. She values her freedom and to be listened to. She loves to fight, but she is not an impulsive fighter or an impulsive person; she waits and listens. 

Of course, any of these points could be misinterpretations. Accepting them as truths would, therefore, lead to me writing the character ... well, out of character. This is also absolutely not everything there is to them; it’s just a few things I think are rather important.

Now, onto their relationship. 

One of the things that made me ship them initially is that they are honest with each other. Toph doesn’t coddle Aang, and Aang is not afraid to push against her, they tell each other how it is, and neither is afraid of the other’s reaction. 

Aang has never been anything but Aang to Toph. She doesn’t care if he’s the Avatar, not when they first meet, and not once they become friends, and I think that’s a very good thing for Aang, who has, by the end of the series, very much accepted his fate, but will still struggle with other people seeing him as nothing but. 

Similarly, Aang is possibly the first person to never underestimate Toph. He knows almost from the moment he sees her that she is a force to reckoned with, and he never so much as implies that she isn’t just as capable as him or anybody else. He is also her first (human) friend. 

They want to be themselves, they want to be free, and they can be those things with each other. 

When I write them, I let Toph be vulnerable around Aang, I let Aang be tired and distressed, because if they cannot be that in front of each other, then why should I even ship them? They can’t be afraid to show the other parts of themselves they may not necessarily like or those they hold close in fear of being hurt; there needs to be a sense of trust and familiarity.

The most important thing about any relationship (in my eyes, anyway) is communication.

Verbal as well as non-verbal. 

It’s important that Aang can say “This bothers me”, or that Toph can say “I appreciate what you did”, but the things they don’t say are just as important. Maybe Toph doesn’t like saying “I love you” with quite so many words, but when she squeezes his hand twice, Aang knows that’s what she means. Maybe Aang doesn’t want to talk about why he feels unhappy right now, but he appreciates Toph sitting next to him. That sort of thing. 

I’m developing a headache now, so I will end this post here, but if you have any more questions, if this was confusingly written or just ... missed what you actually wanted to know about, please don’t hesitate to send another ask. Hope I could help at least a little.

Also, and I can’t believe I forgot to add this, yes. They do deserve all the love.

[wandaviz]

tagged by ​@danlevys. thank you! ♡

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[vomara]

@acitizenoftheavatarstate nope! i'm assuming that it has to do with kuruk and his face-stolen lover ummi, correct?

the first time aang sees toph in ATLA, it’s in the foggy swamp, before he actually meets her. the first time she “sees” him in LOK, it’s also in the foggy swamp, and it’s a different version of him, one that has died and been reborn. as huu, the protector of the foggy swamp, says, “time is an illusion, and so is death.”